cochlea

(kok'le-ah) [L. snail shell.] cone-shaped cavity in the petrous portion of the temporal bone, forming one of the divisions of the labs^rinth or internal ear; it consists of a spiral canal making two and a half turns around a central core of spongy bone, the modiolus; this spiral canal of the cochlea contains the membranous cochlea or duct us cochlear is in which is the organ of Corti, one of the terminal auditory apparatuses.